


Fathers Know Best

by Dextrousleftie



Category: Original Work
Genre: Anal Sex, Fluff, M/M, Oral Sex, Rimming, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-10
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-03-17 05:04:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3516407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dextrousleftie/pseuds/Dextrousleftie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ethan Dupree has a lot on his hands. He's lonely, his teenage daughter is driving him crazy, and now a neighborhood boy has a crush on her to boot. It's all a little too much...until he meets the neighborhood boy's father, and realizes that he just might have a total crush of his own going on...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Ethan Dupree rubbed at his temple as his teenage daughter’s high, angry voice shrilled: “You suck, Dad! I want to go home!” she stomped away and ran up the stairs. He heard her bedroom door slam behind her. He shook his head wearily, pulling his cell phone from his pocket in resigned despair.

He hit the button to call his ex-wife, Patricia. He heard it ring, then she picked up on the other end. “Hey, Ethan. What happened?” She sounded as resigned as he felt. 

“I told her she couldn’t go to a concert with just her friends and no chaperones. She doesn’t want ME to chaperone because it would be too embarrassing to have her elderly and very uncool dad there. So now she’s mad and wants to go home early. Should I just bring her back?”

She snorted. “Hell, no. It’s your week to have her, Ethan. You’ve got to suffer. I have her all week in the winter when she’s in school. And you don’t even have a pair of troublemaking twins on top of a teenage daughter. You’ve got it good, pal. Deal with it.”

He sighed. He knew she was right. Pat and her husband Darryl had produced a pair of feisty and rather high-strung twin boys a year after they got married, much to Pat’s shock. Since she’d been in her late thirties by then, she hadn’t intended to have any more kids. The boys, Matt and Blake, were a fractious pair. Pat really did have her hands full with them, even without a moody and self-absorbed teenage daughter on top of that. He just had to buck up and be a man, no matter how painful it was going to be living in a house with a sulking teenage girl. 

“All right, Pat. You’re right.”

She chuckled. “You can do it, Ethan. Be strong. Just ignore her; that’ll drive her nuts. No kid likes it when they don’t get the attention they want when they have temper tantrums.”

“It was easier when I could send her to her room for a time out,” Ethan remarked wryly. “Now she storms off to her room all on her own and sulks. Or she sits on the couch and gives me nasty looks. I’m already getting a headache just thinking about it.”

“The joys of having a teenager,” Pat replied. “Kids are mostly worth the trouble, but these teenage years…they’re very trying for all concerned. But one day she’ll leave teenagerhood and become a responsible adult, and she’ll thank us then.”

“If we’re still alive to enjoy that day,” Ethan said drolly. “That will be wonderful.”

Pat laughed openly at him. “This is what you signed up for when you became a parent, Ethan. For better or for worse, just like marriage. Except you can’t divorce your kids like you can your husband or wife. Too bad, eh?”

“Indeed. Anyway, thanks for listening, Pat. You’re a great lady.”

“Of course I am. That’s why you married me, even though you’re gay,” Pat said easily. “Speaking of that, are you seeing anybody?”

He winced. “Not at the moment,” he said stiffly.

“Oh, man. Ethan, you’ve got to get out there and look for somebody. Eligible guys are not just going to come to your door. No one’s that lucky.”

“I know,” he sighed. “I guess I’m just tired of the quality of the men I’ve been meeting lately. I’m too old for clubbing and bar hopping, and where else do you go to reliably find single gay men? Not church, that’s for sure. Maybe the gym, I guess, but I’m too lazy to go work out all the time.”

She chuckled. “Yes, you’re SUCH an old fogy,” she teased him. “All of forty-two. Why, you’ve got one foot in the grave already!”

“Some days it feels that way,” he muttered, making her laugh again. 

“Well, don’t wait to long to get out there again. You don’t want to end up old and alone, with only your cat for company,” Pat said sternly.

“Why not? My cat is VERY good company,” he told her.

“Right. But can he do all of the things that a human male can do for you? I think not,” she pointed out dryly.

“Too true. Listen, I’ll let you go. I’ve got to get dinner started. Even though our daughter will probably tell me that she’s not hungry, and that she’ll never be hungry again because her father is such a heartless troll.”

“Okay. Try not to take it too personally, Ethan. She’s like this with everyone. Darryl too. Only with him, she even gets to say: You’re not my father! You can’t tell me what to do! At least you don’t have that to deal with.”

He had to agree that she was right about that one. He bade her goodbye and stuffed his phone back into his pocket, walking barefoot into his kitchen to start making dinner. Cooking always relaxed him. He turned the radio sitting on the counter to an oldies station, not caring what his daughter would have to say if she heard that. ’Old farts music’ she called it scathingly. Well, he was an old fart. So he’d listen to whatever he wanted to, which included 80s tunes in all of their glory. Someday she’d be listening to Miley Cyrus and Sia and Justin Beiber, and her own kid would sneer at her for her taste in music. It was the circle of life.

 

He was just sliding the roast into the oven when he heard a knock at the front door. He closed the oven and went out into the hallway, heading for the door. Probably somebody selling magazines, or maybe a stray Jehovah’s Witness come to save him from his wicked ways. If the latter, he’d simply tell them that he was gay and going to stay that way, and they’d generally scurry away with wild-eyed looks over their shoulders. His sexuality actually came in handy sometimes.

He swung the door open, and found a boy standing on his front step. A young man, really, who looked to be about his daughter’s age. And a handsome boy at that, with long dark hair to his shoulders, a full mouth, and a pair of steady light-grey eyes that would make many a teenage girl(and a few boys, as well) swoon. This kid smiled at him and said: “Hi. I’m Kellen Flannery, and I live a few blocks away. I’m looking for odd jobs to do over the summer to make some money to buy a car. I’ll do anything - mow your lawn, clean your gutters, whatever you need. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Ethan was about to say no, when a thought occurred to him. “Actually, yes. There’s a great big shed out back that hasn’t been properly cleaned out since before I moved in. I keep meaning to get out there and clean it out, to sort out the good stuff from the junk and throw the junk away, but I never seem to have the time. If you’re willing to do the work, and you do I a good job, I’ll pay you ten bucks an hour. Sound good?”

The kid’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow!” he said. “That’s good money!”

“Yes, well I expect you to do a proportionately good job to earn it,” Ethan told him sternly. “It’s hot and stuffy and dusty out there, and there are probably spiders and God knows what else living in the shed. You’ll have your work cut out for you.”

Kellen Flannery beamed at him. “That’s okay. I’m willing to work hard. When do you want me to start?”

“How about tomorrow morning? Anytime after ten o’clock?”

“Sure. I’ll be here,” Kellen assured him.

Then his face changed, and the look of awe and astonishment on it made Ethan turn to see what he was staring at. He felt somewhat apprehensive to see his daughter Ashley standing at the base of the stairs, returning that look with a similar one of her own. They were so intent on each other that a nuclear bomb could have gone off next to them and they probably wouldn’t have noticed. Oh, boy. This he did not need!

He was thinking of telling Kellen that he’d changed his mind about having his shed cleaned out, but Ashley beat him to the punch. She glided up next to him and smiled dazzlingly at Kellen. All of her sulkiness and petulance were gone, and she was so beautiful that it made Ethan’s heart hurt to look at her. His lovely daughter, who was fast becoming a woman. “hey,” she said softly.

“Hi,” Kellen choked out.

Ethan sighed internally. There was no hope for it. “Ash, this is Kellen Flannery. He’s going to clean out that shed out back for me. Kellen, this is my daughter Ashley Dupree. She’s staying with me for the week,” he added, trying to subtly warn the boy that Ashley wouldn’t always be around. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Ashley,” Kellen said. Obviously his parents had taught him good manners. 

She lowered her lashes over her eyes ,and Ethan groaned silently. His daughter was a natural charmer. Kellen didn’t stand a chance. “Nice to meet you, Kellen,” she practically purred, holding out her hand. He took it, and held it for far too long, as they gazed into each others’ eyes. 

Ethan rolled his own eyes, silently asking the heavens for guidance. He SO did not need the complications of a first crush on top of Ashley’s normal teenage angst and drama. But that’s exactly what he was getting, whether he needed it or not. He’d have to call Pat tomorrow and tell her that their daughter was ‘in love’ for the very first time. He was pretty sure that she’d be as apprehensive as he was right now. While he knew he had to expect this, he’d always hoped that it would happen while she was living at home where Pat could deal with it. Yes, that was a selfish wish, but Pat was a woman. She’d once been a teenage girl; she’d know how to handle these new feelings that Ashley was experiencing. He didn’t have a clue how to handle this. Not one single clue.

 

He finally cleared his throat ostentatiously to break up their silent staring contest. Their hands jerked apart, and Kellen turned a bit red around the cheekbones as Ashley glared at him. “Okay, Kellen, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Ethan said patiently, staring the kid down until Kellen dropped his own eyes and nodded. 

“Sure thing, Mr. Dupree. I’ll be here,” with a last longing glance at Ashley, he turned and walked away.

Ashley whirled on him. “Dad! Why did you have to do that?! He could have stayed a little longer!”

“You’ll get to see him tomorrow, Ash,” he reminded her, feeling an ensuing migraine starting to pound at his temples. 

“Yes!” her face glowed, and she was even more beautiful than ever. Ethan wanted to whimper. “I’m SO glad that you hired him to work for you, Dad!”

 

‘I’m not’ he thought wearily, as she danced away and up the stairs. Probably going to her room to try on every outfit that she’d brought with her, so that she could look her best when she saw Kellen again tomorrow. Ethan tottered back into the kitchen, breaking out a bottle of wine to have a fortifying drink. He thought about rummaging in the cupboard for a glass, but finally said: “Fuck it,” and drank out of the bottle like a Neanderthal. His life had just gotten more complicated. He felt he deserved to swig out of the bottle like a wino.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Like father, like son...

Ethan was surprised to see his daughter come wafting into the kitchen the next day at eight-thirty in the morning. Her usual summertime rising schedule was sometime after eleven, whenever she felt like getting up. Usually he’d already eaten breakfast and had gotten a few hours start on his work in his home office before she put in an appearance. But not only was she up very early(for her), but her hair was glossy and put up behind her head, she was wearing make-up, and a pretty summer dress that seemed far too short to his fatherly eyes. He wanted to groan, but refrained. Dear God. He just wasn’t ready to handle this situation. Not that he’d probably ever be ready, even when she was in her thirties. She’d always be his little girl in Ethan’s eyes. 

“Morning, Dad!” She trilled, waving her fingers at him. 

“Morning, sweetie,” he replied cautiously. “You’re up early.”

“Yeah, I know. But it’s such a nice day, I couldn’t stay in bed,” she plopped down in a chair across from him, smiling widely.  
Would she be upset if he buried his head in his hands? Instead, he got up and went to the stove. “Would you like some scrambled eggs and a pancake, Ash?”

“Yes, Dad, I’m hungry!”

He began to cook breakfast for her, trying to ignore her happy humming behind him. She had pulled out her phone and was texting one of her friends, probably telling her all about the gorgeous neighbor boy that she’d be getting to see again today. Ethan gritted his teeth and flipped a pancake neatly, wishing that Kellen Flannery had never come to his door.   
Well, at least Ashley was in a good mood. She watched TV after breakfast, while simultaneously texting and playing an app on her phone. Ethan retreated to his home office to get some work done, but it was difficult to concentrate. He kept glancing at the clock apprehensively, and as the numbers moved toward ten o’clock his abdomen began to tighten. 

 

Much to his surprise(not!) the front doorbell rang a few minutes after ten. Ethan rose to his feet, meeting his daughter coming out of the living room as he went to answer it. Her eyes were bright, and she was as keen as a bloodhound that had just caught a scent. Ethan swung the door open, and there was Kellen. As handsome as ever, his distinctive light-grey eyes aglow as they came to rest on Ashley’s face. Ethan closed his own eyes briefly as he rasped: “Good morning, Kellen.”

“Uh, hi, Mr. Dupree. I’m here to start working on your shed.”

“Of course,” Ethan said, opening his eyes again. Kellen was staring at his daughter, who was returning his attentions with interest. “Why don’t we go out back?”

All three of them went around the side of the house, with Ashley casting pseudo-shy glances at Kellen from Ethan’s left side, where she’d strategically positioned herself. Ethan kept his eyes forward and up, because he SO did not want to watch his daughter make eyes at a boy. Or watch the boy return those glances with fevered ones of his own. He pointed to the large shed sitting against the back fence. It was almost as large as a small barn, and it was kind of an eyesore. He’d been meaning to do something about it for months, because once it was cleaned out he could have it demolished and plant some flowers in that space instead. But he’d just been too lazy to do it himself, and hadn’t wanted to pay the exorbitant prices that a clean-up company would charge. So Kellen was his best bet, if he did a good job. That was the only reason that Ethan didn’t cancel this job immediately, that and the knowledge that his daughter would go ballistic and make his life utterly miserable for the next week if he did so…

“That’s it,” he said. “Anything that’s obviously junk you can throw away. I’ll get you some garbage bags and gloves that you can wear. Everything else just pile up neatly, and I’ll help you go through it later in the week.”

“Okay,” Kellen said simply.

“I’ll stay out here and keep him company, Dad,” Ashley said brightly.

Ethan stiffened, but nodded silently. Just what he’d expected. “All right, Ash. You two come inside at noon and I’ll make us some lunch.”

He went back into the house to fetch a roll of sturdy garbage bags and some work gloves for Kellen to wear, and by the time he returned the two teenagers were chatting with each other. Ashley was laughing at whatever Kellen had said, her eyes glowing. Kellen looked enthralled, and why wouldn’t he? Ashley was pretty, vivacious, and clearly into him. What straight boy wouldn’t give his left nut to have a girl like Ashley pay attention to him?

He handed Kellen the gloves and the garbage bags. “I’ll just leave you to get to it,” he remarked. “I’m sure that Ashley will be good company for you,” he added manfully.

“I’ll get right to it, Mr. Dupree,” Kellen assured him, and he did, indeed, pull on the gloves right away and turn toward the door of the shed. Much as he was into Ethan’s daughter, making enough money to buy a car was clearly a priority for him. Again, that was something Ethan could understand. Every teenage boy wanted wheels of his own. 

Ashley shot him a look that clearly said: “Get out of here, Dad! No old fogeys allowed!” 

Ethan sighed but retraced his steps back to the house, feeling old and rather tired. He suspected every father felt this way if they had a daughter, when your sweet little girl began to show interest in boys other than you. He suspected it was different for those with sons, because boys were expected to go out and ‘sow their wild oats’, to grow up and be men. But no father wanted their little angel to grow up. It was a funny way of looking at things, if you considered the fact that those boys wanting to grow up wanted to do so mostly with those perpetual little girls. 

He laughed at himself at this thought, and decided to stop being so uptight about the whole thing. So Ashley had her first crush. So what. Everybody had to go through it some time or other. And Kellen seemed like a nice kid, so hopefully he wouldn’t break Ethan’s little girl’s heart. Although if he did, Ethan would be there to help pick up the pieces. Because that’s what dads did. Supported their kids choices in life whenever they could, no matter how they felt about it. He suspected this was how many parents felt about finding out that their child was gay. Not that he’d know, since his own parents had been dead for almost a decade by the time he’d come out of the closet and admitted to Pat(and himself) that he was gay. He had no idea how they would have reacted to the news.

 

He holed up in his office, determined to trust Ashley and let her spend time with the boy she had a crush on on her own. He got wrapped up in his work, and was so intent on it that he jumped when the front doorbell rang. He looked up, blinking, then glanced at the clock. It wasn’t yet noon, and besides Ashley would have just brought Kellen inside without ringing the doorbell. Who was this?

He got to his feet and went to answer the door. Hew swung it open, and when he saw the man standing on his front stoop he froze. His heart began to pound wildly, his breathing picked up, and his whole body flushed. Distantly he wondered if this is how Ashley had felt yesterday when she’d seen Kellen standing at the door. Or maybe he was having a heart attack, who knew?

Dear God, the man on his front stoop was freaking gorgeous! Tall, broad shouldered, with a somewhat weathered face with the best bone structure he’d ever seen. The shirt dark hair had silver at the temples, and there were laugh lines around his eyes. Those eyes…they were a clear light-grey, just beautiful, just…Kellen’s eyes. They were Kellen’s eyes. And that was Kellen’s mouth, and his bone structure, once he’d filled out and grown some more. Ethan felt dizzy. This man had to be related to the boy cleaning out his shed and crushing on his daughter.

“Hello,” the man said in a deep voice that made shivers wrack Ethan’s body. “I’m Callum Flannery. I brought some lunch for my son, Kellen. He’s doing some work for you, isn’t he?”

Ethan scrambled to get his brain to work properly. “Uh, yes,” he stammered. “He is. He’s in the backyard with my daughter, Ashley.”

Callum’s mobile mouth twitched. “Yes. I heard all about her last night.   
Apparently she’s the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen,” he remarked dryly.

Ethan found himself laughing a little. “Well, I think that too, but I’m her father so I’m prejudiced,” he said with a chuckle. 

A wonderful smile. This man was just so…Oh, man, was he sporting a visible erection? His face flooded with color, but Callum wasn’t staring at his groin. Thank God. “Anyway, I just came to drop this off,” he said, holding up a paper bag. “He was supposed to bring it with him, but he ran out of the house so fast earlier that he forgot it.”

“Oh, okay, I was going to feed the kids, but I’ll be happy to give this to him instead,” Ethan said, reaching out for the bag.

“That’s nice of you. But I want him to get used to packing his lunch, since he’s going to come and work with me next month and it’s easier to pack a lunch to the worksite rather than go to a fast food joint. And I don’t like him eating junk food anyway.”

“Come and work with you?” Ethan repeated, taking the paper bag. 

Callum nodded. “I have a construction company,” he explained. “We have a job opening up next month that Kellen will be able to help with. Until then, he’s doing odd jobs for people to get money for a down payment on a car. I’m proud of him. Most kids would just bug their parents until they coughed up the money for a car, but not Kellen. He’s independent and a hard worker. I feel like I did my job right as a parent.”

“You have, if he has such a strong work ethic,” Ethan said admiringly. 

Callum smiled at him. That smile did the strangest things inside of him. “Anyway, I guess I’ll get going. I’ve got some work to do at home. Tell Kellen dinner will be at six, so he’d better knock off by then. Okay?”

“Of course,” Ethan said, and then felt rather bereft as Callum Flannery strode away down his front walk. Geez, the man had the best ass that Ethan had ever seen!

He pulled himself together again, reminding himself sharply that the man was probably straight and married both. But his body didn’t care about that fact. His penis was reminding him that it had been a long time since it had gotten any stimulation from anything other than Ethan’s own hand. He sighed, rubbing at his face a bit. It was bad enough that his daughter had a crush on a boy that she’d probably never see again after this week…now her father seemed to have a crush on that same boy’s father as well! What a mess.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kellen lets slip a little fact about his dad that is very interesting to Ethan...

Ethan pulled himself together and took the brown bag with him to the backyard. Here he found Kellen hard at work, though the boy was still able to have a lively conversation with Ashley as he did so. His daughter was giggling helplessly, her face flushed. Ethan might have rolled his eyes an hour ago ,but after seeing Kellen’s father he now understood his daughter’s reaction. He’d have giggled helplessly, too, if that gorgeous man had said anything of a personal nature to him or had indicated any inertest in him whatsoever. He sighed. Stupid for man of his age to have a crush on somebody. Though he supposed that he was due, since he’d never had one in high school and had married Pat in college. It was his second teenagerhood, come upon him in middle age. Gag.

“Hey,” he called, to get Kellen’s attention. 

Kellen turned in the doorway of the shed. Sweat was making his shirt cling to his chest, an Ethan studiously forced himself to look anywhere but there. To ogle a boy his daughter’s age was just wrong on SO many levels… “Your father brought your lunch over for you,” he told Kellen aloud. “He says that you should always remember to take it with you, since once you’re on the job at his construction company you’ll have to brown bag it everyday and he wants you to get used to that fact,” and he held out the brown bag to the boy.

“Oh, yeah,” Kellen looked faintly chagrined. “I left it on the counter. I was in such a hurry to get over here…” his eyes cut to Ashley, and a faint color tinged his cheekbones. 

Ethan’s lips twitched. The boy’s embarrassment over his eagerness to see Ashley again rather touched him. It was really cute. He handed over the bag as Kellen tripped off his work gloves. “How’s the job coming along?”

“Pretty good. You really did have a lot of junk in there, though,” Kellen waved a hand ay a growing pile of stuff on the ground nearby.

“I’m not surprised. I knew that it was stuffed full the one time I poked my nose in there. I just didn’t have the oomph to tackle it on my own. Which is why I’m so grateful for you,” he remarked to Kellen.

Kellen shrugged. “I don’t mind working hard. Dad says that the only way to get anywhere in life is through hard work, and I think he’s right.”

“I agree. Ash, would you come in the house in about an hour and have lunch with me? Kellen, you can eat your bagged lunch with us, if you want,” he added generously when he saw a mutinous expression beginning to flit across his daughter’s pretty face.

“Sure, if you don’t mind, Mr. Dupree,” the boy said politely.

“Of course I don’t,” Ethan said as Ashley’s face glowed. He tried to mean that, though it was difficult. “Anyway, I’ll let you get back to work while I start lunch.”

“Thanks, Mr. Dupree.” Kellen told him.

He nodded, and walked away trying to ignore the light sound of his daughter’s laughter behind him. He reminded himself what Pat would say when he told her about this: That their daughter was becoming a woman, that a harmless crush was no big deal, that it had to happen to everybody sometime. While he knew all of that intellectually, in his heart he mourned the loss of his little girl. All fathers had to surrender their daughters to somebody else eventually, generally to another man. It just wasn’t easy. How he wished he could wrap her up in cotton wool and keep Ashley his little girl for all time…

 

Ethan was bustling around the kitchen an hour later when he heard the front door open. Light laughter and voices floated to him, then Ashley and Kellen came through the kitchen door. “Here we are, Daddy!” Ashley called, sitting down at the kitchen table right next to Kellen. 

“Good. Lunch is pretty much ready,” Ethan told her, as Kellen set his brown bag on the tabletop and opened it up. He extracted a sandwich, a bag of chips, an apple, and two chocolate chip cookies from inside of the bag. 

“What kind of sandwich is it, Kellen?” He heard Ashley ask behind him as he ladled soup from the pot and into two bowls for himself and Ashley, alongside two grilled cheese sandwiches made with real cheddar cheese and topped with sauerkraut. 

“Braunschweiger with mustard,” he replied. “Have you ever had it?”

“I don’t think so,” she said dubiously. “Dad?”

“When you were little, Ash,” he told her as he brought the bowls and plates to the table. “You seemed to like it. I worn you, though, it’s made from liver and other tasty meats.”

“Eww!” Ashley exclaimed, scrunching up her face. “I hate liver, Daddy!”

“I know you do.”

“But this stuff is so good, Ashley!” Kellen cried earnestly. “You should try it again!”

Of course his words made her decide right away that she just HAD to try braunschweiger again; and he broke off a bite of his sandwich for her. 

Ashley bit into it, then smiled. “It’s good,” she said.

Ethan silently thought to himself that she’d probably have said that had the boy offered her a bite of head cheese; then he chided himself for his cynicism. Maybe she really did like it, and not just the person offering it to her. He spooned some soup into his mouth as Ashley and Kellen talked and ate. Their youthful vitality was making him feel rather depressed. When was the last time that he’d felt that energetic? 

Then he vaguely heard Kellen say something about ‘my dad’, and his interest was immediately piqued. He looked up from his lunch and concentrated on what the boy was saying, trying hard not to let Kellen see how eager he was to know just about anything about his father. “Dad says I have to pick one sport a season and stick with it,” Kellen was explaining to Ashley. “He says it’s good exercise. He doesn’t care what I do - one year he let me take karate lessons instead. He approved of that because he wants me to be able to defend myself, though he said if I ever use it to attack someone without a reason he’ll kick my ass ten ways to Sunday. And he could- he’s a black belt in tai-kwon-do.”

A black belt? Ethan felt drool forming at the corner of his mouth, and surreptitiously wiped it away. Dear God! The man was just so scrumptious! ‘He can kick my ass anytime,’ he thought dreamily. ‘Or kiss it, if he wanted to. Whatever. I don’t care which.’

 

“Your dad sounds kind of scary,” Ashley said. Implicit in her tone was the fact that HER dad wasn’t scary at all. Ethan sighed, but he knew it was true. He couldn’t hurt a fly. Hell, the fly could probably take him two out of three falls…

Kellen nodded. “Sometimes he is, but I don’t mind. He’s not like abusive or anything, just a little strict. He thinks kids have to be given discipline and taught respect. Otherwise they might not turn out to be good adults. Sometimes I wish I could party and run wild like a lot of the other kids I know do, but most of the time I’m grateful that he keeps me from making stupid mistakes that can wreck my life and my future. I’ve seen it happen - a kid at my school just got arrested for a DUI and a hit-and-run accident. Who knows when he’ll get out of jail, and what kind of future he’ll have afterward. Maybe if his parents had made sure that he didn’t drink and drive, that they’d been more concerned about where he was and what he was doing all the time, he might not have killed somebody and ruined his life.”

Ashley looked rather guilty, and darted a glance at Ethan. He realized that Kellen’s earnest statement had made her think of the fit she’d had about the concert that Ethan wouldn’t let her go to. He kept his face pretty much expressionless, not wanting to ruin her moment of self-revelation. Guilt worked for him, no matter what the source of it was.

“What’s your mom do? You never said,” Ashley commented hurriedly, clearly trying to take her mind off of the unwelcome thought that had invaded it.

“My mom died a few months after I was born,” Kellen told her quietly.

“Oh, Kellen, I’m so sorry!” Ashley cried, touching his arm sympathetically. 

He smiled at her caring, and Ethan found himself doing the same. His daughter had a good heart. “It’s okay,” Kellen assured her, putting his hand over her own, “I don’t even remember her, except from some pictures Dad has. She was really pretty, and Dad says she was nice, too. They never got married or anything - she got pregnant with me when they were in college together - and they were going to share parenting of me but not get married. I think,” he added with a wry smile, “That I was a drunken accident. Dad won’t admit it, but I’m pretty sure that’s what happened.”

Ethan felt sorry for Kellen. To suspect that you’d been nothing but an accident for your parents - that was tough. Seeing his expression, the boy smiled. “Don’t look so sad, Mr. Dupree. Dad says that even though I wasn’t planned, he’s always been happy that I came along. That I’m the best thing that ever happened to him. And he means it, I can tell. So it doesn’t matter that I was an accident.”

“I’m glad, Kellen,” Ethan said gently. 

“How come your dad never got married or anything?” Ashley asked curiously. “Haven’t you ever wanted a mom, even a step mom?”

Kellen looked uncomfortable at this question. “Well, Dad sort of WAS married,” he began. “For like almost ten years. But…” he trailed off, biting at his lip. His eyes darted from Ashley’s face to Ethan’s, as though gauging their reactions to his next statement. “He and Rick couldn’t legally get married.”

Ethan’s jaw dropped as he attempted to process this statement. That man was…that gorgeous hunk of beef was…GAY?! There WAS a God in Heaven after all!! He wondered if Kellen and Ashley would think him horribly weird if he started break dancing around the kitchen…

“So your dad is gay?” Ashley clarified.

Kellen tensed. “Yes,” he said in a clipped tone of voice, clearly waiting for some kind of adverse reaction on her part.

She grinned. “That’s cool. Mine is too.” She waved a hand at Ethan casually, while Kellen did a double take and stared at Ethan in amazement. Well, he could understand that. What were the odds that you’d meet a girl you liked who also had a father who was gay? A million to one? More? He had to admit, after learning that Kellen’s father way gay, he was starting to like those odds himself…


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To ask him out or not to ask him out. Is that the question?

Ethan sent the children back out to work on the shed some more, then cleaned up the kitchen before putting meatloaf in the oven for dinner. Then he went back to work, though he found it hard to concentrate. Most of his thoughts were on Kellen’s father. Kellen’s delectable hunk of man father, who also just happened to be gay…whoo hoo! Though the fact that he was gay didn’t automatically mean that he’d be interested in going out with Ethan. Maybe, being a manly sort of man himself, he preferred macho he-men type gay guys. A boring, slightly womany homebody like Ethan might not be somebody who’d attract his attention.

Ethan gnawed at the top of his pen as he stared at his computer screen blankly. Should he gird his loins and go for it? Ask Callum Flannery out? The worst that could happen was the man would say no. And while that would hurt, at least he’d have tried. Hmm. When and how could he even broach the subject? The man had only come over today to drop off Kellen’s lunch. In all probability he wouldn’t have a reason to come back to Ethan’s house again. Could he come up with an excuse to go over to Kellen’s house instead? 

He spent most of the afternoon trying to think of reasons to just casually drop by Kellen’s house, rather than actually getting any work done. He felt annoyed with himself when he went to go check the meatloaf. He really needed to concentrate on making a living, and stop worrying about asking out a guy who probably wasn’t interested in him anyway. It was probably just because he hadn’t gotten laid in so long. Men weren’t meant to be celibate for long stretches of time. It tended to make them crazy.

Maybe he should just go and pick somebody up at a bar. But he hated one-night stands, he really did. They made him feel dirty and unfulfilled. He wanted what he’d had with Pat, except for the part where their sex life had been not-so-good to finally downright abysmal. He wanted a great relationship with lots of mind-blowing sex. Was that too much to ask? Well, maybe it was, for a guy his age. Maybe he’d just have to settle for whatever he could get. 

He sighed and set the meatloaf on the counter. Dating at his age was just so difficult. Younger men only wanted no-strings-attached sex, and most men his age were already in relationships or had been stung by a bad relationship and were wary. Maybe he should try on-line dating. But he’d just feel too desperate if he joined an on-line dating service. Though maybe he already was that desperate, and should just take the plunge already.

He went out to the backyard to tell Kellen that it was time to knock off for the day and go home. He found the young man bagging up the last of a large mound of garbage, and thought to himself that he’d definitely have to rent one of those blue trash containers from the garbage people to hold all of those bags. Ashley was sitting on the picnic table nearby, and moued when he saw her father appear. She knew that he was here to send Kellen on his way.

“Good job, Kellen,” Ethan said as the boy straightened up and turned toward him. “You’re more than half done already, and this is a big job. I’ll be happy to pay you the ten bucks an hour I promised you, plus a speed bonus.”

Kellen grinned at him, even as he wiped sweat off of his forehead. “Thanks, Mr. Dupree!”

“No, thank you. Anyway, come inside and get cleaned up. I’m sure that your dad expects you home for dinner soon.”

Kellen glanced at the watch on his wrist. “Yeah. I’d better get cleaned up and get going. But I’ll come back tomorrow,” he added for Ashley’s benefit.

She smiled radiantly at him, and Kellen had visible stars in his eyes. Ethan wondered if he’d ever been that young. He didn’t remember crushing on anyone much when he was in high school. Still, since he’d begun to suspect that he was different from everybody else early on, he’d kind of suppressed his sexuality altogether to get through high school alive. Then he’d met Pat in college and had liked her enough that he’d thought he could put his deviant sexual yearnings behind him and have a normal family. By the time he’d finally realized that he simply couldn’t live as a heterosexual man any more(that it wasn’t fair to either himself or Pat), he was already practically middle aged. The way he was feeling about Kellen’s father was truly the first ever crush that he’d had on anybody. Which was just weird in a man of his age…

 

Kellen came inside and used the downstairs bathroom to clean himself up thoroughly. Ashley came into the kitchen, where Ethan was putting the finishing touches on dinner. “Daddy?” She said, and the wheedling tone of her voice made Ethan wary. He turned to look at her. 

“What is it, Ash?”

“Kellen said he might be able to get his dad to agree to me coming over to his house for dinner. Can I go if he says yes? Please?”

Ethan looked at the carefully planned and made dinner already prepared, a dinner for two people. He sighed. “All right, Ash,” he said. “If Kellen’s dad says it’s okay, you can go over to his house for dinner.”

She squealed happily and launched herself into his arms. “Thank you, Daddy!” She cried, kissing his cheek.

He smiled wryly. “I’ll wrap up your food and you can eat it later.”

Ashley skipped out of the kitchen in search of Kellen, to tell him the news. Ethan grumbled to himself as he wrapped up her portion and put it in the fridge. He was pretty sure that Callum Flannery wouldn’t say no to his son’s new crush coming over for dinner; probably he wanted his kid to be happy just as much as Ethan wanted Ashley to be happy. It would be lonely eating dinner alone, but it wasn’t as though he hadn’t done it before. Many times before, sadly. 

Kellen appeared in the kitchen doorway, cell phone in hand. “My Dad says it’s okay for Ashley to come to dinner,” he said, grinning.

“That’s good. Will you walk her home afterward?” Ethan asked him.

Kellen nodded. “I sure will. See you later, Mr. Dupree.”

Ashley appeared behind him, having changed into yet another pretty frock for her dinner at Kellen’s house. She waved at him before she and Kellen left together, and Ethan sat down at the kitchen table and morosely ate his lonely dinner with a large glass of wine. He tried not to think about how empty his house felt. How the silence seemed oppressive. He usually only felt this way after Ashley left to go home to her mom, but with her going over to Kellen’s house he couldn’t help but feel it sooner than normal. And in a few years she’d be eighteen, and off to college. Then her visits to him were bound to become sparse and erratic. Before that happened, he really needed to try to find somebody. Or get a bunch of cats, one or the other…

 

Ashley floated through the door hours later, glowing and ecstatic. Ethan suspected that his daughter had been thoroughly kissed on his front porch, from her mussed hair and reddened cheeks and lips. He managed to conjure up a smile for her, tamping down any urge to protest. If he got upset, it’d only make her more determined to see Kellen. And do other things with him, as well. “Hey, Ash. Did you have a good time?” He asked in an even tone of voice.

“Oh, yes! Kellen’s dad is a cool guy! And Dad, he’s gorgeous! You know, he’s gay…” she looked at him speculatively. 

“Yes, Ash,” he agreed. “He is gay.”

“You and he should like get together, Dad,” she urged him, coming over to the couch to plop down next to him. 

“Just because he’s gay doesn’t mean that we’d be compatible, Ash,” he replied patiently. “Not all gay people are compatible with each other, you know.”

“I know that, Dad!” she cried, waving an impatient hand at him. “But how will you know if you don’t like go out with him? You should totally ask him out!”

Much as he’d like to do that very thing, Ethan pointed out his reservations to his daughter. “How exactly can I do that, Ash? Just show up on his doorstep and proposition him? He’d think I was creepy and pathetic.”

“No,” she tilted her head to the side. “I can ask Kellen to invite you over to dinner, too, sometime this week. You can come with us, and sometime during the evening you ask him out. Easy as pie.”

“If you say so,” he muttered. Then he thought about it. “How about this - why don’t you invite Kellen and his father over here for dinner instead? I’d like to cook for a bunch of people. And I’ll…ask him out, I promise.”

“Sounds good. I’ll text Kellen and ask him,” She jumped up and hurried off to retrieve her phone from where it had been charging. Her fingers flew as she texted Kellen.

Ethan tried not to feel nervous. Damn it, he was a middle aged man, not a teenager! Even if Kellen’s father said yes to dinner, he could handle it. He just hoped that he didn’t stutter and act like an idiot around the man if he did come over for dinner. That would be horribly embarrassing. He’d never live it down if he acted like that.

“Okay, Kell says that they can’t come over tomorrow night, but the night after is good,” Ashley said. “Oh, and don’t make anything with like shrimp or clams or stuff, because Kell’s dad is allergic to shellfish.”

“All right,” he croaked. “No surf and turf, got it. Just turf is always good.”

Ashley giggled and texted Kellen again. Ethan brushed at the beads of sweat that had broken out on his brow. So now he had a day and a half to work himself up into a nervous frenzy about dinner, and asking Callum Flannery out. Wonderful. He should be a complete basket case by six o’clock on Friday…


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan has a case of nerves...

Ethan spent the next day cleaning his house from top to bottom, interspersing his frantic efforts with some desultory efforts to actually get paid work done. He was scrubbing at the grout in the bathtub with an old toothbrush when his daughter came into the room. “Dad!” she cried, looking disapproving. “What are you doing?”

Ethan swiped at the sweat on his forehead with his arm, blinking up at her. “Cleaning the grout off the tile, Ash,” he croaked.

She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. “Dad, you’re wearing yourself out, and the house is already spotless! Stop freaking out! Kellen’s dad’s not going to come over with a pair of white gloves and inspect your work, you know. He’s just coming over to have dinner tomorrow night.”

Ethan sighed, slumping wearily against the side of the tub. “You’re right, kiddo,” he said. “I guess I‘m just really nervous, is all.”

“Why?” Ashley asked, crouching down beside him and putting her hand on his shoulder. 

“Because, sad to say, this is the first time that I’m going to be trying to ask someone out on a date since your mother in college,” Ethan explained. 

She blinked at him, looking confused. “You haven’t asked anybody out before this? Not since Mom?” she asked incredulously.

He moved uncomfortably. “Not…really. I mean, I’ve picked a few guys up in bars and whatnot, but it’s not really the same thing. Neither of us was looking for a relationship or anything, so it was pretty casual. This might turn out to be something more serious, if he says yes and we hit it off. So there’s a lot more at stake. Thus, me being horribly nervous. I feel like a young guy again, trying to work himself up to ask out his first girl. Or in this case, guy.”

“Well, that’s what you get for just trolling for sex at your age,” Ashley remarked caustically, making his face flood with color. 

“Ash!”

She shook her head in exasperation. “Dad, you’re too old to be a playa. You need to find a nice guy and settle down, so you can be as happy as Mom is with Don. Maybe Kellen’s dad is the guy you need, maybe not. But you’ve got to try. And if not him, somebody else. No more bar hopping. Got it?” She said sternly, leveling a finger at him.

“Scout’s honor,” he said wearily, making a cross over his heart with his finger. “I didn’t really like bar hopping, anyway.”

“Good. Now stop cleaning the shower and actually take one. Then make yourself some tea and relax. Stop running yourself ragged. You need to be fresh and presentable tomorrow night when you ask Kellen’s dad out on a   
date.”

“Yes, Mother,” he murmured, making her stick her tongue out at him.

“You know I’m right, Dad. This is exactly what Mom would say to you if you were talking to her right now. I’m just standing in for her, is all.”

“And doing a fabulous job, honey,” he said with a weak smile.

She nodded. “Damn right. Now, get yourself up off the floor and hop in the shower. I’ll get the water boiling for your tea. See you downstairs in a bit.”

She left the bathroom, and he watched her go admiringly. He and Pat had really raised a great daughter together. He was so proud of her. And God, she was SO much like her mom! 

 

A half an hour later, Ethan came downstairs feeling much better. He’d taken a long, hot, luxurious shower, and had ‘attended to himself’ while he was in there. Kellen’s delectable father had featured highly in his masturbatory fantasies, and he was feeling much more relaxed and happy when he wandered into the kitchen. Here, he found that Ashley had left his tea kettle on the stove to stay warm, and he made himself a nice cup of chamomile tea and sipped it as he sat at his kitchen table. 

He needed to go to the store today. He’d decided to buy filet mignon for tomorrow night’s dinner, even though it was horribly expensive. He wanted to dazzle Callum Flannery with his cooking skills, and he wanted the best cut of meat possible. Speaking of cuts of meat…he wandered off into a delicious daydream starring Callum Flannery’s cut of meat’, and jumped and turned red when the door slammed open and his daughter and Kellen came into the kitchen. He was utterly grateful that he was sitting down, so his erection wasn’t visible to the two teens. 

“Uh…h-how did it go, guys?” He stuttered, leaning forward a bit to hide the bulge at his lap.

“I’ve got most of the shed cleaned out,” Kellen told him. “I should be able to finish up by tomorrow, Mr. Dupree.”

“That’s wonderful,” Ethan told him. “You’re definitely getting a bonus, Kellen.”

The boy beamed at him. Ashley looked unhappy, and Ethan could understand why. With the shed completely cleared out, Kellen would have no reason for coming over anymore. Ethan sighed silently, but he knew that his daughter was bound for heartbreak sooner or later. She’d have to go home in a few days anyway, and except for being able to call and/or text him, she wouldn’t have any more contact with Kellen anyway. And in the way of all teenage romances, they’d soon drift apart and find other people to like. It was inevitable, though it made his heart hurt to think of his daughter’s short-term misery while she pined for Kellen from afar.

 

Kellen went home soon after, and Ashley went with him. Ethan made a run to the grocery store to stock up on what he needed for dinner tomorrow night, including the stuff necessary to make dessert. He took his time, thinking and rethinking the ingredients while looking up recipes on his Smartphone. Finally he was done, and he loaded everything in his car and drove home. It took awhile for him to put everything away, then he settled on the couch and watched a movie while sipping a glass of wine and nibbling on a chocolate bar. It was actually quite a peaceful evening, and it helped him unwind and stop being so nervous about tomorrow.  
But he couldn’t sleep that night. He tossed and turned, and then finally got up and went to make himself some Sleepytime tea in hopes that it would help him. He slouched at the kitchen table, sipping the tea and yawning. This was so ridiculous. He was a middle-aged man! Why was he reacting to this situation like an overwrought teenager? 

Of course he already knew the answer to that one. He’d never reacted this way in high school when he WAS an overwrought teenager! This was simply his second teenagerhood. God. He was too old and not hormonal enough to be able to deal with this well. And he didn’t live with his parents, so he didn’t have more responsible, not-addled-by-raging-hormones adults standing behind him telling him to pull himself together.

He grinned a little at this thought. Maybe he should call his mom and dad in Boca and ask them to fly in to see him while he was going through this. Of course, the poor dears would probably be totally befuddled by their middle-aged son’s behavior, and wouldn’t be much help at all…

 

He finally dragged his ass back to bed, after watching a Magnum P.I. episode and an infomercial for a spray-on hair product. Watching that one, he was desperately glad that he wasn’t losing his hair despite being in his early forties. The lengths that some men would go to to make it look like they had a full head of hair!

He dozed, waking up intermittently, until about ten o’clock. When he dragged his butt downstairs, he found the remains of a breakfast of cereal and toast littering the kitchen. Ashley, normal teenager that she was, was a total slob. He cleaned up after her and made himself a bagel with cream cheese and a cup of strong coffee for his own breakfast. He was determined to actually get some work done today, and not spend the whole day worrying about dinner tonight. He’d start preparing dinner at about four thirty or so. Until then, he was going to do his best not to even think about it.

Yeah, right. But he did manage to at least get some work done, for which he was really grateful. He was getting a bit behind, and would have to work hard to catch up come Monday. But for now he got done what he could, and made lunch for himself And Ashley about twelve thirty. Kellen came and ate with them again, and reported that the shed was almost done. Only a few more hours work would see the shed completely cleaned out. Ashley begged him to let her go over to Kellen’s house after he was done, and to come home when Kellen and his father arrived for dinner. Ethan agreed to this, wanting Ashley to have as much time with Kellen as she could before she had to go home on Monday.

 

Retiring back to his office, he worked hard most of the afternoon. At three twenty, he gave up trying to work and went into the kitchen to start prepping for dinner. He cut vegetables and began marinating the steaks, humming to himself. It was a nervous habit of his, and it always made him feel a bit better. He set the dinner table with a white cloth, and put out the good silverware and china. The silverware he’d gotten from his mother, and was a family heirloom passed down through four generations. He’d give it to Ashley someday in turn. He got out sparkling crystal glasses and folded linen napkins, until the table looked beautiful and his little homemaker’s heart was satisfied. 

He bustled back into the kitchen and started making sides to go with the steaks. A gorgeous salad with goat cheese and pancetta, asparagus tips in a butter sauce, and homemade rolls. The dough for the rolls had been rising all morning, and he popped them in the oven to cook an hour before his daughter, Kellen, and Callum Flannery were due to come over for dinner.

The steaks were the last thing he attended to. He wanted them to be medium rare, not bloody but tender and melt-in-your-mouth soft. He wanted everything to be perfect. He opened a bottle of wine to let it breathe, though he also had a selection of beers and ales in his refrigerator for Callum to choose from in case he didn’t like wine. 

He went to get dressed while the food was finishing up. He fussed over his attired, trying to decide which shirt brought out his eyes and if his khakis looked relaxed enough without being slobby. Finally he had to make a decision, because he had to hurry back to the kitchen to make sure the food didn’t burn. He got the food dished up into serving platters and bowls, and finally everything was ready. Just then, his doorbell rang. He whirled around, his hand flying to his heart, which was pounding in his chest. His eyes were wide, and he was breathing so quickly it was a wonder he wasn’t hyperventilating. Oh, God. He was here! He wondered distantly if he was going to have a heart attack right here and now. It seemed like a definite possibility…


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner is served

Ethan finally forced himself to move. Swallowing heavily, he walked to the front door and reached out a trembling hand to take a hold of the knob. He turned it, and swung the door open. Kellen and Ashley were standing on the front stoop, and behind them towered the tall form of Kellen’s handsome father. He met those light grey eyes, and he forgot how to breathe again. He just stood there, frozen, his eyes locked with Callum’s, until Ashley’s voice broke into his trance-like state. “Dad, get out of the way so we can come inside!” she cried impatiently.

He blinked, and felt color flood his face. He jumped back, horribly embarrassed, as Ashley swept inside with her hand on Kellen’s arm. Callum stepped inside after them, silently, his eyes half-lidded and full of what Ethan distantly recognized as veiled amusement. He just wanted to die, or maybe sink through the floor and disappear. Oh, God! Could this GET any more humiliating?

Callum stopped by him and held out a covered plate. “I brought dessert, if that’s okay,” he rumbled. 

“O-oh, t-thank you,” he stuttered, grabbing at the plate. “I’ll just take this into the kitchen!” He cried, darting away to escape his embarrassment and Callum’s sharp eyes alike. 

Inside the kitchen, he put the covered plate on the counter, then just stood there with his fingers gripping the edges of it while he took in deep, shuddering breaths. Shit. Callum had to be convinced that he was an imbecile by now. This evening was starting out pretty badly. Knowing his luck, it would only get worse from here. By the time this dinner was over, Callum would probably think that Ethan Dupree was an insane, drooling idiot who needed to be in a padded room somewhere. He wished that this evening was already over, so he could stew in his humiliation by himself.   
He had to go back out there. He had to be a good host to his guests. He straightened up, trying to get his shoulders to relax, but no such luck. He drew in a long breath through his nose, then turned and walked back out into the living room. 

 

Kellen and Ashley were sitting side-by-side on the couch, and Callum Flannery was sitting on his comfortable armchair looking amazingly masculine and edible. He glanced at Ethan thoughtfully, and he tried(futilely) to control his blushing. “Dinner’s almost ready,” he announced. “I’ll start bringing the food out in a moment. I hope that you’re hungry, everybody.”

“I could definitely eat,” Callum remarked. “We had a hard job today. And it smells good,” he added, sniffing the air appreciatively.

Ethan felt some of the tension in his abdomen melt away. “What would everybody like to drink? I have beer and ale, Mr. Flannery, or wine if you’d prefer, and there’s soda for the kids.”

“Call me Callum,” the other man said. “And I’ll take a beer. Kell, what do you want?”

“Do you have Dr. Pepper?” Kellen asked hopefully.

“Yes, I do. Coming right up. Root beer for you, Ash?”

“Yeah, Dad, thanks,” Ashley said with a smile.

“Be right back.” He scurried back into the kitchen to fetch the drinks and try to compose himself again. He put a glass and a bottle of beer on a tray, along with two more glasses and two and of soda for the kids. He poured a generous glass of red wine for himself, gulping half of it right away. He needed the fortification. Then he lifted the tray and carried it into the living room.

He distributed the drinks. Callum took the beer and the glass with thanks. Ethan handed Ashley her root beer and Kellen his Dr. Pepper, then took a seat in the other armchair with his glass of wine. “I’m so glad that you came this evening, Mr….err…Callum,” he began, glad that his voice wasn’t shaking. 

Callum nodded at him. “Glad to be here. It’s nice to have somebody else cook for me once in awhile. It’s tough sometimes, coming home after a long day and having to make dinner. Sometimes I’m pretty wiped.”

“Dad is awesome. He always makes sure we eat something good, even when he’s tired,” Kellen remarked admiringly. 

Callum’s lips lifted slightly at the corners. “I’ve gotta take care of my kid,” he pointed out. “That’s what dads do.”

“Good dads,” Kellen agreed. “And you’re the best, Dad.”

Ethan felt a smile lighting up his face. Kellen and Callum’s relationship was simply wonderful. Kellen was a typical teenager in many ways, but at least he appreciated his dad and all of the things that Callum did for him. “I should start bringing the food out, if you’ll all take a seat at the table,” he remarked, getting to his feet.

“I’ll help you carry stuff,” Callum said, levering himself out of the chair.

“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that,” a flustered Ethan replied, his breathing picking up. 

Callum smiled slightly. “I don’t mind. Lead the way,” he said, waving a hand at Ethan.

Resigned, he led the way into the kitchen. He was far too aware of how close Callum was behind him, of how tall and solid that the man was. He piled the steaks on a platter, his hands trying to shake again, as Callum stood silently nearby and watched him. The man’s eyes were trying to bore a hole through his skin! Or that’s how it felt, anyway. Ethan’s skin prickled and heated, and he could barely breathe. All he wanted was for those big, rough, workman’s hands to touch him, to span his waist as Callum nestled his body up against Ethan’s so that he could feel the hardness of the man’s cock through his jeans…

Oh, fuck! He had such a hard-on that he was having trouble not walking funny He gritted his teeth and forced himself to walk normally as he retrieved the salad from the fridge and pulled the pan of scalloped potatoes and homemade rooks from the oven, then spooned the asparagus in butter sauce into a serving dish. He was SO glad that his back was mostly to Callum as he moved, because it would just mortify him if the man saw the stiffy he was sporting! 

 

Finally, all of the food was ready to go. “All right,” he began in as steady a voice as he could manage. “We’re good to go. Would you carry the steaks, Callum? And the rolls? I’d appreciate it.”

“Of course. This looks great,” he added, taking the platter of steaks and the basket of rolls with a decided hungry gleam in his light grey eyes.

Ethan wished desperately that some of that hunger was directed at him instead of at the food. He shook his head at himself as he took the potatoes and asparagus out to the table, then went back for the salad and some serving utensils. Last but not least, he shuttled another bottle of beer, the wine bottle, and two more sodas back to the table. Callum had sat down, and Ethan slipped into his chair with a smile. “Okay, eat up, everybody,” he said, making motions with his hands at the food.

Callum forked a large, juicy filet mignon onto his plate, then handed the platter to Ethan. Ethan served himself and passed it on, and the plates were quickly filled as the food was handed around. “Wow, Dad, this really does look great,” Ashley told him. 

“Yeah, Mr. Dupree, it looks awesome,” Kellen said fervently.

“Thank you,” he said. “Eat up, kids, before it gets cold.”

 

Callum lifted his beer glass to Ethan in a silent toast, then dug into his food with a robust appetite. Ethan would have watched him eat, but he didn’t think that was a good idea. He’d have an erection the entire evening if he had to watch meat slide into Callum’s gorgeous mouth! Instead, he forced himself to eat his own food, though he wasn’t terribly hungry. He was still too nervous to have much of an appetite. He kept his eyes on his food, and that helped somewhat. He wasn’t going to stare at Callum like a lovesick teenager all evening.

“This is delicious, Ethan,” Callum remarked.

He felt a rush of pleasure. “Thank you. I love to cook, and I haven’t gotten to cook for more than myself and sometimes Ashley in a long time. I used to do most of the cooking for the family when I was still married to Ashley’s mom. Pat appreciated that.”

“Of course she did. Mom’s not that great a cook,” Ashley remarked dryly. “She talked Don into doing most of the cooking, too. And everybody’s happy about that, believe me.”

Callum chuckled, a deep, rich sound that made Ethan’s toes curl. “I like to cook, too. Good thing, since my…former partner didn’t like to do it much. Somebody had to keep us all fed.”

Ethan heard the tension in his voice when he spoke of his ex-partner, and felt sympathy. He wanted to get up and circle the table, to massage Callum’s shoulders until those rigid muscles relaxed. Instead he took a large gulp from his wine glass, to stifle his inappropriate urges. “I’m sorry, I forgot to peek and see what you brought for dessert,” he remarked aloud to Callum.

“Ah. It’s cheesecake. I know this great place that makes homemade cheesecakes. They’re thick, rich, and delicious. You’ll love it.”

Ethan conjured up a smile. “That sounds wonderful,” he lied, not wanting to hurt Callum’s feelings by telling him that he couldn’t stand cheesecake. He saw Ashley grimace out of the side of his eye; his daughter was also aware that her dad loathed cheesecake. He pushed to his feet. “I’ll just cut it and bring everyone a piece,” he said quickly. “Nobody move. Digest your food while I bring us dessert.”

He went into the kitchen, grimacing as he pulled the wrapping off a thick cheesecake with a graham cracker crust and chocolate swirls throughout the cheesecake. He hoped that eating one of the chocolate parts would help him choke it down. He really hated cheesecake; it was so thick and…well, cheesy…it always made him feel like he was choking. And it had always seemed to him an abomination to mix cheese with sugar, though he knew he was in a minority in that opinion. He began to cut it up, serving pieces onto small china dessert plates. He cut himself the smallest piece he could manage without giving away his total dislike of this type of dessert, making sure he got a piece that was entirely the chocolate part of the cheesecake.   
He’d brewed a pot of coffee earlier, and he poured some into cups for himself and Callum, and also added containers of real sugar and cream before taking everything out to the table on a serving platter. 

 

“Here we are!” he remarked as cheerfully as he could before setting the platter down in the middle of the table. “Help yourselves. Callum, I made us some coffee. I hope that’s alright.”

“Great, thanks.” Callum snagged a big piece of cheesecake and a cup of coffee off the platter, while the kids each took slightly smaller pieces for themselves. Ethan put his very small piece in front of him and sat down. Steeling his resolve, he cut off a small piece and put it in his mouth. 

Callum was happily devouring his thick piece, and Ashley and Kellen were also making inroads. Ethan groaned internally, trying to chew the nasty stuff and not make faces as he did so. Dear God, it was so thick! His throat was already trying to close up in anticipation of the first bite. At least the chocolate taste mostly covered up the taste of the cheesecake, but the stuff was so dense and rich that he didn’t know if he’d be able to swallow it.   
He managed to get the first bite down, and gulped his coffee to try to rinse the taste and any lingering cheesecake out of his mouth and throat before attempting to eat more.

He realized that eyes were watching him, and glanced up into Callum’s intense state. His light grey eyes drifted down to the small piece of cheesecake on the plate, then back to Ethan’s mouth. Any other time, he’d have been having frenzied sexual fantasies about that look. But right now, it was all he could do to try to chew and swallow his second bite of dessert. 

 

Then Callum shook his head slightly, and Ethan felt mortified when he realized that Callum knew that he hated what he was eating. He tried to look as though he were oblivious to Callum’s sudden knowledge, but he was pretty sure he didn’t pull it off very well. It didn’t help that he was once again trying not to choke on a bite of cheesecake. Callum sipped at his coffee, but his grey eyes never left Ethan’s as he did so. Once again, Ethan wished he could sink through the floor and disappear. 

 

Dessert was finally over, and Ethan had managed to make it through his small piece. The kids cleaned their plates, took their dirty dishes into the kitchen, and departed for Ashley’s bedroom together. Ethan supposed should worry about what they’d do up there together, but he was too busy silently squirming under Callum’s half-lidded stare to bother. “If you don’t like cheesecake, you should have just said,” Callum remarked softly once the kids had disappeared. “It wouldn’t have hurt my feelings if you hadn’t wanted any.” Suddenly, his mouth widened in a white, dazzling grin. “You looked like a carp that had been landed and was still trying to breathe,” he told Ethan, vast amusement in his voice. “You should have seen the look on your face. I’ve seen guys who’ve dropped cement cinder blocks on their feet who looked like they were in less pain.”

 

Suddenly, Ethan saw the humor in it as well. He began to laugh at himself, and Callum joined him. All of his anxieties about the evening just melted away in that mutual laughter, and Ethan finally relaxed and began to enjoy himself.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A date is made, and a kiss is had

“I’m sorry,” Ethan said when he could talk again. “I really do hate cheesecake. I just didn’t want to hurt your feelings after you were nice enough to bring dessert.”

Callum shrugged in good humor. “I get that not everybody likes what I like. Although, I you’d said something, I would have missed the show. That was pretty funny,” he grinned again, his eyes sparkling. The sight of him made Ethan catch his breath. 

“I’m glad you take pleasure in my misery,” he said drolly, smiling himself to show that he wasn’t actually upset.

“Hey, it could have been worse. I could have asked you for a second piece, and encouraged you to have some more, too. I’m betting that you’re such a nice guy you’d have tried to eat a second piece anyway, even though it was practically killing you. Or am I wrong?” he looked shrewdly at Ethan.

He felt his cheeks heat. “You’re not wrong,” he replied wryly. “I’m trying to be a good host, and I was nervous about this evening going well, so I would have done whatever I had to make my dinner a success. Even if it meant choking to death on cheesecake,” he added with a crooked smile.

Callum’s brows lifted slightly. ‘Why were you so nervous? You know Kellen, and you met me the other day. Do we seem that scary to you?”

“Oh,” Ethan bit at his lip, his mind racing as he tried to come up with a reason(other than the real one) for his being nervous about how this dinner went. “No. I just…I haven’t had anybody over in so long that I guess I was nervous about how it would go. Which just goes to show you how pathetic I am,” he went on dryly. “Not much of a social butterfly, if I have friends over so seldom that one dinner party can throw me.”

Callum snorted. “I like to go hang out with my guys at a bar and get drinks,” he said. “But I don’t invite them into my house, generally. I don’t like people coming over that much. So I guess I’m a loser too, huh?”

‘Oh, so far from it,’ Ethan thought to himself, staring at Callum’s handsome face. Aloud he remarked: “If that’s so, we could be losers together.” Then he froze in his chair in disbelief at what he’d just said. Dear God, why had he spoken without thinking?! How would Callum react to such a clumsy pass? He was such an idiot!

Callum lifted a single eyebrow. “Now why do I get the feeling that you’re panicking because you said something you didn’t intend to?” He remarked to the air. 

Ethan turned the color of a cherry tomato, and stared at the floor. Curse him and his wayward mouth! Then Callum went on musingly: “If that’s your sideways proposal that we spend more time together, then I’m all for it.”

Ethan’s head jerked up, and his eyes widened in disbelief. His mouth opened and closed soundlessly, as Callum grinned. “You’re adorable when you blush and stutter and sit there like somebody hit you between the eyes with a baseball bat, you know that? It’s really cute. Next I expect you’ll try to pull my pigtails or push me into the mud to show that you like me,” his grin widened and his eyes gleamed as he said this.

Ethan swallowed. He felt like an idiot again, though for a different reason this time. “I..” he began helplessly, bur trailed off. There wasn’t a single reply that he could come up with that would make him seem less of a moron. 

Callum leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and looked Ethan directly in the eyes. “Listen, it’s all right that you like me. I’m all for it, actually. I haven’t had a guy look at me like you’re looking at me in a long time. Sure, they stare at me in the gay bars like they’d like to eat me alive, but that’s not the same thing. I want a guy who wants all of me, not just my body for some one-night stand. Or do you just want my body?” he asked slyly, his grey eyes raking over Ethan’s body rather hotly, in a manner that made him feel like he was going to combust at any moment.

“No!” he squeaked. “I mean, yes, of course I want your body…” 

Callum smirked, which made him scowl a little. Then Callum winked at him, making him realize the man was teasing him. Flustered, he growled:   
“Yes, I want your body, damn you! You’re hot, you have to know that. Smoking hot. But if I just wanted a hot body, I could go to those same bars and clubs and pick somebody up. An anonymous somebody, whose name I don’t even have to learn. But I’m really tired of that. I want what I had with Ashley’s mom, only even better because I was gay and couldn’t give Pat what she needed. I want a real relationship. And I was hoping to ask you out tonight, that’s why I was so nervous earlier. Because you’re pretty much out of my league, but I still wanted to try.”

Callum snorted. “Out of your league? Why would you say that? You’re cute, intelligent, a great dad, a fabulous cook, and you look at me like I walk on water. What more could any guy ask for? I’d say that you’re definitely in a league of your own, but not one that’s inferior to me in any way.”

Ethan felt warmth steal over him. Suddenly he felt shy again. “Thanks,” he said, dropping his lashes over his eyes.

“God, could you not do that? Do you know what a turn on that is? It’s a wonder I didn’t sweep the food off the table earlier and throw you over it instead. If the kids hadn’t been there, I might have,” Callum growled, making Ethan jump in surprise. 

“R-Really?” he said, in total disbelief. 

The hot stare he received I return made him lose his breath an his body go all over warm and tight. “Oh, man,” he muttered, squirming. “The kids are right upstairs,” he reminded Callum desperately.

A sigh. “You’re right. Besides, if we’re both not looking for one-night stands, jumping into bed together right away isn’t the smart way to go. So…how about we hit a movie and maybe grab some dinner tomorrow night? Do you think we can trust the kids to be alone together?”

Ethan felt elation at the first part of the sentence, but frowned over the second. “I don’t know. Ash is level headed mostly, but she’s pretty far gone over your son. And I don’t know Kellen well enough to say…”

“I do. I’ll make sure he gets a stern talking to before I come and pick you up tomorrow night. He’ll keep it in his pants.”

“Well, then, I’d love to go out with you tomorrow night,” Ethan said eagerly, then flushed at how like his teenage daughter he sounded.

Callum chuckled. “Excellent. For now, I guess we should maybe talk about some neutral subjects while we wait for the kids to come downstairs? Do you watch baseball, Ethan?”

“Uh…sometimes,” he hedged.

Callum grinned. “By sometimes, do you mean almost never?” He asked in amusement.

Ethan shrugged a bit, sheepishly. “I’ve never really been that into sports,” he admitted. “I was always the geek in high school, the one with his nose buried in a book. I take it you were a jock?”

Callum nodded. “I played football and baseball in high school, though I wasn’t good enough at either of them to think about making a career out of it. I like working with my hands more than my mind, I’ll admit it. Though…” he added, with a look at Ethan that made his abdomen tighten treacherously, “I’ve always had a thing for smart guys because they’re so different from me. My partner…” his mouth tightened and thinned, making Ethan feel a flash of sympathy, “Was in financial services. I didn’t understand most of what he talked about, but at least he left me a diverse portfolio of stocks and bonds when we split up…”

“I’m sorry,” Ethan said sympathetically, leaning forward as he met Callum’s eyes. “Really sorry. It’s never easy to end a serious relationship, is it? Even when you know it’s for the best.”

“Yeah,” Callum sighed. ’I guess I always thought that we’d be together for the rest of our lives, you know? But here I find myself a middle-aged single gay guy, and I don’t particularly care for it. I never liked playing the field, and I like it even less now that I’m older. It sucks to be in a bar full of twenty year olds who are only interested in getting off.”

Ethan sighed. “I’m so with you,” he said gloomily. “Until my divorce, I hadn’t dated many people before Pat. And none of them guys. So getting onto the gay scene for the first time in my life was a shock, especially considering that I’m a middle-aged man. I don’t have the energy for it, frankly. It makes me tired just to walk into one of those places.”

Callum nodded. “At least, if nothing else, we can commiserate with each other over the perils of dating when you’re middle-aged. Even if we can’t find anything else that we have in common,” he remarked in wry amusement.

Ethan laughed. “Yes, and it’s a rich field of conversation,” he noted. I guess we won’t have to worry about finding anything to talk about tomorrow night.”

“That’s the spirit. Listen, can we at least get a little good night kiss in before the kiddies come downstairs and spoil our adult fun? Please?”

Ethan felt his stomach roil and his heartbeat pick up as Callum gave him fake ’puppy dog eyes’ and a seductive smile that did bad, bad things to certain parts of him. “I suppose we could do that,” he gasped. Callum looked satisfied. He stood up and came over to Ethan’s chair, putting out his hand to pull him to his feet. He lost most of the rest of his breath as he stared at Callum’s mouth, and then those sensual lips descended on his and Ethan forgot everything else for awhile…even his own name… 

 

When they finally broke apart, he could only stand there panting and gasping for air. Callum’s eyes were low lidded, and he looked feral with his mouth slightly swollen and moist from their kiss. “Wow,” Ethan breathed, finally able to speak again.

“Yeah,” Callum agreed huskily. “I haven’t had a kiss that good in…Christ, I can’t even remember. Years, I’m pretty sure.”

“Me, either,” Ethan agreed, licking at his lips slightly to gather up traces of Callum’s taste. 

Those light grey eyes darkened when he did that. “You’re going to be hard on me, Ethan,” he remarked wryly. “Very, very hard. I can see that already.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan has to...horror! Go shopping for clothes for his date with his daughter, but there is much worse yet to come...

A/N: As requested, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

 

 

Callum and Kellen had finally gone home. Ethan was moving slowly around the kitchen, cleaning up. Truth be told, he was daydreaming about his date with Callum and getting more of those incredible kisses. Dreamily, he set plates in the dishwasher and pushed the button. He hummed a little to himself. 

Dear God, he was acting like such a lovesick teenager! He knew it, but he didn’t much care. He was just going to enjoy his little crush, which seemed to be reciprocated by the gorgeous Callum. How amazing was that?! Callum Flannery wasn’t the kind of guy that Ethan had ever expected to get together with. No matter what Callum said, Ethan wasn’t really in his league at all. He knew how lucky he was, and he wasn’t going to question it. 

Ashley wandered in as he was finishing up cleaning the kitchen. As usual, she was very good at avoiding any kind of housework. “Hey, Dad,” she said. Her eyes were as dreamy as Ethan imagined that his were. 

“Hey, sweetie. The dinner party went pretty well, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” suddenly her eyes were shrewd. “So, did you ask Kellen’s dad out?”

“Yes, I did,” Ethan replied, unable to completely contain his smile.  
“He said yes, didn’t he? Way to go, Dad!” She crowed, clapping her hands. 

“I was a bit surprised,” he admitted. “I wasn’t sure I’d exactly be his type.”

“Why not? I think you’re a DILF, Dad!” Ashley said stoutly.

“Oh, God, never say that again. No father wants his daughter to tell him she thinks he’s a DILF,” Ethan said in horror.

Ashley giggled. “But it’s true! Okay, okay, I won’t say it again,” she said, laughing and making a zipper motion across her lips with her fingers. 

Ethan shook his head. “Begone up to your room, bad seed, and get ready for bed,” he told her mock-sternly. “And you’re only allowed to text Kellen for an hour, okay?”

Ashley grinned at him. “An hour it is,” she said, giving him a military salute. She left the kitchen, and the sound of her laughter made him smile as he turned back to his tidying up. 

 

When the kitchen was clean, Ethan watched some TV and then went to bed. After he took his shower(during which he reenacted his earlier masturbatory fantasies starring Callum Flannery), he wandered over to his closet wearing only a towel around his waist and began to poke through his clothes, trying to decide what he should wear on his date. Something nice but casual. Something flattering and maybe just a bit sexy. Did he even have anything like that?

Okay, on, he didn’t. After twenty minutes spent digging through the clothes hanging in the closet, he came to that conclusion. He had a couple of nice suits, but those were for school recitals and meeting certain clients face-to-face. He had some casual clothes, but frankly most of them seemed a little fuddy duddy. Dear God, his wardrobe was more like a retired grandpa’s than a single gay man’s, even a middle-aged single gay man’s. He cringed at the thought of wearing any of this on his date with the smoking hot Callum.  
Tomorrow he’d have to bite the bullet and…gulp…ask his daughter for help! He was going to have to go clothes shopping with Ashley! Dear God, he was out of his ever loving mind! 

 

But he was determined. So the next morning, at breakfast, he broached the subject of going clothes shopping. Ashley was thrilled. She practically clapped her hands together, her eyes gleaming at the thought of getting to drag her father through clothing stores and having access to his credit cards. Ethan winced as she ordered him upstairs to get dressed in street clothes so they could hit the shops. She told him they’d leave after Kellen arrived, because he was simply coming to pick up his money for the good job he’d done cleaning out the shed. She wheedled her father to let Kellen come with them, and he finally gave in rather than listen to her whine at him for several hours. 

She was ecstatic. She ran off to change her own clothes, and Ethan walked slowly upstairs to get dressed for his shopping expedition. Ashley was waiting impatiently in the living room, with Kellen sitting beside her, when he dragged his heels downstairs again a half an hour later. “Hey, Mr. Dupree,” the boy greeted him. “Ash says you’re going shopping? You guys have fun.”

Ethan blinked. “You’re not coming with us?”

Kellen shook his head. “I just came to pick up my money and tell Ash that my dad is taking me to work with him later on today, so I can get started helping them out. I can’t go with you guys.”

Ethan carefully schooled his face to show nothing but a pleasant smile, under Ashley’s sharp stare. “Okay. That’s too bad. Anyway, just let me get your money for you,” he headed into his office to grab the money from the little stash he kept in the wall safe in his office. He had decided to pay Kellen 250$, though he knew that was way more than the boy had earned. He’d done an excellent job on the shed, and a speedy one, too. He deserved a big bonus. 

 

He took the money out and handed it to the boy, whose eyes practically bugged out of his head when he saw how much Ethan was paying him. “Hey, this is great, but…” he began weakly.

“You earned every penny. Thanks for the great job you did on the shed. Ash, we should get going soon.” Ethan said to his daughter.

She sighed, but nodded. “Okay, Daddy. Kell, I’ll call you later?”

“Sure. I bet Dad won’t mind if I keep you company tonight while he’s out on a date with your dad,” Kellen added, making Ethan silently groan. He wasn’t particularly happy about the thought of the children being alone together while he and Callum went out on their date, but he knew if he protested Ashley would have a fit. From the way her face was glowing at Kellen’s suggestion, Ashley was over the moon about it. Too bad her father wasn’t. 

“Just let me make a quick phone call, and we’ll go, Ash,” he said hurriedly. “Kellen, thanks again for the great job you did. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Mr. Dupree. Thanks for the money. It’ll be a great help for my down payment,” Kellen said sincerely.

 

Ethan left them alone together and went into his study, pulling out his cell and dialing the number that Callum had programmed into it last night. It rang and rang, and he resigned himself to getting Callum’s voice mail. The guy was probably hard at work on that job already, and not answering his phone.

The phone was picked up on the other end just as Ethan expected it to go to voice mail. “Flannery here,” Callum’s voice said briskly over the line.  
Even the sound of it made butterflies dance in his stomach, and Ethan couldn’t speak for a moment. “Hello?” Callum said, sounding impatient.

“Sorry, sorry. Callum, this is Ethan. Kellen was just here collecting his money for the job he did for me, and he said he’d ask you if he could hang out at my house later with Ashley while we’re gone. Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Calm down, Ethan,” Callum said, sounding faintly amused. “My son won’t do nasty things to your precious daughter, I guarantee it. He knows better. I’ve told him more than once the awful consequences he’d have to accept if I found out he’s having sex at his age, and he’s too afraid of them to chance it. Not being able to buy that car he wants so bad - that would drive him nuts. Especially since so many of his friends would have cars and he wouldn’t. Although, if he ever does decide to brave my wrath, he knows all about safe sex and the extremely DIRE consequences he’d face if he didn’t make sure to put a rubber on it. Also, the thing is, Ethan - if your kid wants to have sex, there’s no real way to stop her, is there? Best you can do is make sure she’s safe and knows all of the consequences. Have you had that talk with Ashley yet?”

“No,” Ethan said in numb horror. “I couldn’t!”

“Uh, sorry, pal, but you have to,” Callum retorted, sounding even more amused. “Your daughter and my son might lose their minds in the heat of the moment tonight, and do something stupid. Don’t you want to make sure that she’s protected if that’s the case? Or do you want to be a grandpa in your early forties?”

“Shit, no,” Ethan breathed, appalled. 

“Then you might think of having that talk with her after all, just to make sure she stays safe if she does decide that she wants to have sex with Kellen. And believe me, Ethan, when a girl wants it the boy won’t be able to withstand her.”

“Dear God,” he muttered. “This day just went from bad to worse!”

A laugh. “I hope you’re not talking about our date tonight?”

“No, no. It’s just I’ve recruited Ash to take me clothes shopping to get something to wear for our date, and now I’ll have to have ‘the talk’ with her while we’re out shopping. Somebody shoot me now!”

A chuckle. “Sorry, Ethan, I shouldn’t laugh. But you’re so cute when you’re flustered. Don’t worry about i,. Be firm with her, and tell her you love her and you want what’s best for her. Tell her that includes not having sex at such a young age, when she has her whole life ahead of her and she’s definitely not ready. Tell her you or her mother will get her birth control when she IS ready, but until then would she refrain from having sex? Be gentle but firm.”

“Is that what you told Kellen?” A bemused Ethan asked.

“Hell, no. I told him I’d make his life a living hell if he had unprotected sex, and that any sex at all at his age would not be looked upon with parental approval. Boys are different than girls. You have to talk to them differently.”

“How do you know how to talk to teenage girls?” Ethan demanded. 

“I saw a special on Oprah about it,” Callum replied promptly.

Ethan began to laugh helplessly. Callum chuckled right along with him. “See? You feel better already. Now get out there, Dad Warrior, and have the talk with your darling girl. I know you can do it.”

“Yeah, right. God, nobody told me that having kids would be like this,” Ethan muttered. 

“That’s because if any parent ever told the uninitiated what it was like, they’d all run like hell and the human race would die out,” Callum told him.

“You’ve got that right. Ah, well. I’ll see you tonight, Callum.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” the other man replied, before hanging up the phone.

Ethan tucked his phone back into his pocket, took a deep breath to steady himself, and went to find his daughter. This was going to be a LONG day! Thank God he had tonight to look forward to, or he wouldn’t make it. He was sure of that!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan takes a shopping trip with his daughter, much to his chagrin...

A/N: As requested, here's the next chapter. I'm glad to get back to writing after months of not doing any, especially since it means I'm feeling better both physically and mentally after surgery. Even though I'm doing chemo treatments, I still feel pretty well physically. I'll try to do some more writing from now on, and get back into my groove. I hope you enjoy this - DL

 

 

“Absolutely not,” Ethan said flatly.

“But, Dad…” Ashley began to protest.

He held up his hand to stop her. “No, Ash. I love you, but no.”

She pouted, but he wouldn’t give in. Looking at himself in the mirror in the dressing room, he was appalled. Ashley thought he looked ultra hot in the tight, bright blue shirt that she’d picked out for him, but as far as he was concerned he looked like what he was - a middle-aged man trying to look like a hip teeny bopper. He could actually see his nipples poking out under the fabric, the shirt was so tight! He wanted to put his hands over them to hide them, like a frightened virgin or something. He would not be seen in public in this! 

He was happy to strip down to his undershirt. He picked up a shirt that he’d picked out off the chair in the fitting room, and put it on. He buttoned it up, thinking it looked clean and a bit preppy. But Ashley didn’t share his opinion. She scrunched her face up into a grimace. “Come on, Dad. That’s so fuddy duddy! Don’t you want to look hot for Kellen’s dad? This just makes you look like a grandpa, not a sexy guy looking to get laid!”

He turned to stare at her in horror. “Please never say that again, either, Ash,” he said with a shudder. “My daughter should NOT talk about me getting laid, ever!”

She snorted contemptuously. “Oh, please, Dad. I’m almost sixteen, not five. I know that you and Mom had sex to have me, you know. Mom gave me the Birds and the Bees talk a long time ago. I know we’re not supposed to ever think about our parents having sex, but that seems silly to me. How would there ever be babies born if people didn’t have sex? Everybody does it. Or if they don’t, they wish they were.”

He sighed. “I know you’re right,” he conceded as he stripped off the shirt she didn’t like. “It’s just that as a father to a young daughter, I don’t ever want to think about you and sex together. Would you consider joining a nunnery? So I never have to?”

She giggled. “Sorry, Dad. No can do. I’m afraid your little girl’s gonna have sex someday, and you’re just going to have to live with that fact.”

“I guess. But I don’t have to be happy about it,” he added, picking another shirt off the pile on the chair. “Speaking of that,” he went on reluctantly, “I don’t really want to, but I have to talk to you about Kellen and the way you feel about him. I mean…”

This time it was her turn to hold up a staying hand. “You’re going to have the sex talk with me, aren’t you, Dad?” she asked in amusement. “You poor thing. But I’ll put you out of your misery. Mom and Don both already talked to me, and Mom made me promise to come to her when I want to start having sex, so she can get me birth control. She said while she won’t be happy if I start at fifteen or sixteen, she’ll still support me so that I’ll be safe and she can know what’s going on. I know I’m too young to start having sex, and even though Kellen’s super hot I promise not to have sex with him tonight. Okay? Though we may make out a lot…” she grinned, her eyes sparkling.

“I can handle that. I think. I guess I have to,” Ethan remarked as he put on the next shirt he wanted to try on. “What do you think of this, Ash?” 

She tilted her head to the side as she contemplated him. “Not bad,” she said. “Still doesn’t show off the goods very well, though.”

He huffed. “Who says I want to show off the goods?”

She smirked. “Why wouldn’t you? Don’t you want Kellen’s dad drooling down your collar tonight because he thinks you’re so sexy?”

He had to concede that she was right. He did want to look good for Callum, to flaunt what he had. Such as it was. He sighed. “Back to the racks, then?”

She leapt to her feet, looking gleeful. Ashley loved to shop. “We’ll find something that looks good, Dad, don’t worry,” she vowed.

“If you say so,” he said, trailing after her carrying the shirts they’d rejected so far. 

 

In the end, after a few more hours of exhausting (for Ethan) shopping, they finally found a shirt and pants that they both agreed on. He was so grateful to leave the mall that he took Ashley to get ice cream and an iced coffee as a reward for her efforts, and so he could relax a little bit before he had to go home and get ready for his date. He was so nervous about it that his stomach was in knots. Not only was he going on a date with a hot guy who was about his age, this wasn’t just some hook up. This might be something real. He hadn’t had that in over seven years, not since he and Pat got divorced. Of course he was nervous. He wanted everything to go well, and for he and Callum to click. 

Ashley was even more excited for his date than he was. She chattered about it all afternoon, even teasing him how she and Kellen would be stepbrother and sister when he and Callum got married. He pointed out that she was counting her chickens before they hatched, but she just claimed that she was being practical and thinking about the future. For example, what kind of dress would she wear to the wedding as a daughter of one of the grooms?   
He shook his head over this statement and sipped his coffee. But the truth was, he could vaguely picture the wedding she was talking about. And wouldn’t Callum make the most handsome groom? The man would look fabulous in a tuxedo!

He shook himself out of his thoughts before he started drooling down his front in the coffee shop and made a fool of himself in public. He really needed to stop putting his cart before his horse, and concentrate only on the date tonight. He wondered if Callum would consult him on where they went to eat. He hoped so. He’d never wanted the domineering sort of male who had to be in control of everything. A strong guy, yes. And oh, was Callum Flannery strong! But not a guy who wanted to tell him what to do and didn’t care about his opinion. 

His cell phone rang. When he pulled it off his belt, he felt his heart start to beat faster. It was Callum calling, as though he’d felt Ethan thinking about him! He put the phone to his ear, as Ashley stared at him across the table. 

“Hi, Callum,” he said, a little shyly, as Ashley grinned at him.

“Hey,” that deep voice rumbled in his ear. “Listen, I was wondering. Where did you want to go to eat tonight? Any preferences?”

Ethan lowered the phone for a moment and stared at it in surprise. Was Callum a mind reader or something? He put the phone back to his ear hurriedly, and said: “Actually, I’d love Italian or Thai. Whichever you prefer.”

“Italian it is, then. I know this great place. You’ll love the food. What time should I pick you up. Seven okay?”

“It’s perfect,” Ethan assured him. “I’ll be ready.”

“Great. I’ll see you then,” Callum hung up, and Ethan felt himself smiling as he lowered the phone. 

He heard a giggle. He looked up at his daughter, who was now openly laughing at him. “What?” he asked in bemusement.

“You’re just so cute, Dad! The look on your face when you were talking to Kellen’s dad…it’s just like the way my friends look when they talk to a cute boy. It’s funny.”

Ethan had to concede that it was fairly funny that a middle aged man wore the same expression a teenage girl did when she was talking to a cute boy. He sighed and smiled. “You’re right, honey,” he told her. “I’m too old to be this way.”

“You’re never too old, Dad,” she chided him. “Don’t be silly. It’s cool that you like this guy so much you get all gooey over him. Were you ever this way before, even when you were my age?”

“God, no,” he replied. “In high school I was too nerdy and repressed to ever have a crush on anyone, and in college I met your mom and started dating her. And while I always liked her, I never had a crush on her.”

‘Of course you didn’t, you’re gay,” Ashley said, shaking her head. “I’m just glad you finally admitted that and divorced Mom, so she could find somebody who really liked her. Don’s great. Now I’m just hoping that you’ve found somebody who likes you, too, so you can be as happy as Mom is.”

“Thanks, honey,” he said, feeling warm in his abdomen at her words. “I hope I do as well.”

“Maybe you already have,” she said hopefully. “Kellen’s dad is a total babe!”

He laughed. “Looks aren’t everything, Ash,” he pointed out humorously. “Personality’s pretty important, too.”

“Sure,” she agreed with a nod. “But he raised Kell, and Kell’s awesome, so he must be a pretty good dad. And isn’t that one way you can tell that a person has a good personality? If they’re a great parent?”

“You have a point,” he conceded with a smile. “Callum does seem to be a great parent. And that’s definitely a point in his favor.”

“Cool. I really hope you guys work out. Though it would be weird to have Kell as a stepbrother, since having a crush on a guy who’s technically related to you seems kind of redneck mountain person,” Ashley remarked with a grin.

He laughed. “I think you two can make it work in spite of that fact,” he teased. “You can have a sort of Game of Thrones incestuous relationship.

Her face scrunched up. “Ewww, Daddy!” She cried. “THAT’S GROSS!”

Ethan chuckled. He was feeling really good right now. He had some nice clothes, he had a date with a really hot guy tonight, and his daughter was happy, too. What more could one middle-aged gay man who’d finally come out of the closet ask for? 

 

Well, maybe getting laid soon. It had been so long since he’d had sex with anyone it was a wonder his equipment hadn’t rusted and fallen off due to disuse. Still, maybe the luscious Callum could help him, with that problem, as well. If he slept with a guy on the first date, he’d feel like such a slut! But at this point, he wouldn’t let feeling that way stop him. There wasn’t much that would stop him, except for Callum turning out to be a total asshole. And even then, he might just sleep with the guy once just to have some good sex if nothing else. Lord, sexual desperation was the pits! God had played such a joke on men, giving most of them a high sexual drive that forced them to do dumb, reckless, and even dangerous things in the pursuit of sexual satisfaction. He imagined that that Deity sat up in Heaven laughing at the male of the human species, enjoying his celestial joke at their expense.


End file.
